


A Dangerous Gift

by Wallwalker



Category: Star Wars Legends: The Old Republic (Video Game)
Genre: Community: fan_flashworks, F/M, Fix-It of Sorts, Implied/Referenced Brainwashing, Light Side Sith Inquisitor, Mildly Dubious Consent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-28
Updated: 2020-03-28
Packaged: 2021-02-28 17:54:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,566
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23361268
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wallwalker/pseuds/Wallwalker
Summary: A Sith apprentice engineers a reunion of sorts between two lost lovers.
Relationships: Rehanna Rist/Nomar Organa
Comments: 1
Kudos: 17





	A Dangerous Gift

It was too easy. 

Nomar Organa fell to the cave floor, his robes singed by lightning and saber strikes; he'd fought hard, but he'd been no match for Baar's raw power. The man's limbs were still shaking from one particularly nasty shock, his saber broken against the cave wall after a particularly bad convulsion. His mouth was clenched shut, but Baar didn't see any blood; he probably hadn't bitten his tongue or cheek, and he didn't see any broken bones or missing limbs. Of course, internal injuries were always a concern.

Andronikos knelt down next to the Jedi, touching his throat; Baar started to say something, but stopped when he realized he was checking his pulse. "Hm," the pirate said, glancing up. "Still alive, Sith. Want me to finish him off?"

Well, that wasn't a surprise. Still, Baar was glad for the mask he'd inherited from his ancestor; he liked not having to hide his expression all the bloody time. And he didn't want to frown at Andronikos; in other circumstances it would have been an excellent question. "No," he said instead, keeping his voice even. Ever since they'd left the Rist estates, he had been considering what to do after facing this man, should the Jedi survive the encounter. "I have another idea." 

"Huh. Thought you guys liked killing Jedi." Andronikos stood up, shrugging a bit. "So what's the plan?"

Baar knelt down, quickly checking over the Jedi's limp body. He had been right; no open wounds, no obvious internal damage. Maybe a concussion; he would have to see to that when he woke up. Either way, he would be safe to carry, so Baar reached down and picked him up, throwing him over his shoulder. Nomar's armor was heavy enough, but Baar's primary duties as a slave had involved hard labor; this was far from the heaviest load he'd ever carried. It might've been difficult if Nomar had been conscious, but he barely even flinched as Baar lifted him. "This will take some time to prepare. First, we need to find a place where the Kiliks won't interfere."

"Those bugs are idiots if they try to bother us now," Andronikos answered dismissively. "We've zapped enough of 'em." 

"Agreed, but we're about to summon others, and they might not be so cautious with new blood around." He looked to Andronikos. "Keep your eyes open for ambushes, and have the holocomm ready. I'll explain once we're on safer ground."

\---

Nomar was unconscious for a long time - plenty time to finish their preparations, to find a safe place far enough out of the nest to provide some safety and make a few calls. The hardest part was the waiting. 

Finally, the Jedi shifted in his bonds, breathing heavily through gritted teeth. He was standing against the base of a cliff wall, fortunately a plentiful feature of Alderaan's landscape. Dark energy encircled his hands and feet, holding him upright. 

"It took you long enough," Baar said as he started to move, and watched him jerk his head upwards, his eyes narrowed. "Be more mindful of your surroundings, Jedi - you nearly gave yourself a concussion." 

"I won't be lectured by a Sith," he said, closing his eyes again. "So what is it to be? I can withstand any torture that you inflict upon me, so if that is your intent, I wouldn't bother. Your time would be better served by killing me now."

"I'm not here to torture you." He didn't care for it anyway; he'd been on the receiving end a few times too many. It made him a strange one among the Sith, but he tried to make up for it by making sure that he always got the job done, one way or the other. "If I wanted you dead, you'd be dead in that cave." 

"So why am I here then? What have you done to me?" He glared at Baar. "Are you going to hurt me like you did Rehanna?"

"You ignorant -" Baar's insult was interrupted by a familiar crackle of energy, the deactivation of a personal stealth field generator. He turned to the familiar woman. "You arrived just in time, Lady Rist," he said, amused. 

She glared at him. "I'm not here to listen to your taunts," she said. 

"I know." And he turned his head, looking back at the Jedi. "You've wanted a chance to see him again for years. Here it is."

She stared at Nomar for a moment, and Baar could see the emotions flashing through her mind, the current of anger and fear running alongside passion and joy. "I was sure that you were going to kill him," she said after a moment. 

"I know," Baar murmured. Another thing that most of the more traditional Sith would've shunned him for - most would have finished off a defeated Jedi before his body struck the ground. Baar had never asked to be Sith; he couldn't be expected to be good at it. The way he saw it, the Jedi was already beaten... and this way he could carry out his objective without killing potential tools, and possibly gain an ally for later use.

"Rehanna," Nomar finally said, seeming to have recovered from seeing her appear. "You... you shouldn't have come here."

"Because you don't want to see me again? Or because he was the one who brought me here?" She did not yet approach him, only studying him from a distance. "I... I know I did a terrible thing, calling you on his behalf. When he said you were alive, I thought it might be a chance to make amends. Or an ambush, I suppose - but I know how to handle ambushes."

The Jedi smiles slightly at that, but it fades quickly. He tries to school his face back to the usual Jedi stoicism. "Rehanna, you have to let me go. Get me out of this place. I have to go back, before they come and find me. The Order knows where I've gone, they'll be searching for me." 

"You're lying." Rehanna spoke before Baar could say the same. A clever woman, indeed. "You didn't tell the other Jedi that you were coming to see me. They never would have let you come back to Alderaan alone." 

"They'll still come searching for me! And this is my home planet, of course they'll think to look here. You've already been involved in this once, I... I don't want to see you dragged any deeper into this. I can't let this hurt you any further."

She smiled - no cruelty there that Baar could see, just hope. "I did not think you would still care when I first called you. If there is any good in this, I am at least glad to see I was wrong."

Nomar froze, realizing that he had said too much. "Rehanna, I can't."

"Nomar -"

"I can't," he says again, too quickly, turning his head away. "I... there's no room for passion in a Jedi's heart. I can't be what you want, I'm not... I can't be that person anymore. I'm...."

Baar gently reached out and tapped her on the shoulder. Rehanna started, but turned towards him, making no move to attack. Her eyes were narrowed, full of pain at Nomar's words. He needed to plant a seed of thought that would serve him in this, and hopefully serve her as well. If he could not succeed, and Nomar could convince her to give up on him... all of this would have been for nothing, and he would have no choice but to kill them. "Look at him," he says softly to the stateswoman, lowering his voice. "Look at what the Jedi have done to him. They have indoctrinated him so utterly and completely that he is denying what he felt for you."

"You..." She looked at him again, her hostility starting to fade. "He always said he had a higher purpose. That the Jedi were protectors, that they had to prevent others from causing harm... that was what he was meant to do."

"At what cost, Rehanna? Tell me this - is he the same man that he was when you were together?"

Rehanna turned to look at him, taking a deep breath. "No," she said softly. "He's not. And I can't let them twist his mind any further." 

"Stop twisting her mind, you monster!" Nomar stared at Rehanna, his eyes wide and desperate. "I don't know what he's saying to you, Rehanna, but please, you mustn't listen. You cannot possibly -" 

"What, Nomar?" Her voice wasn't cruel, but there was a fire in it now, the fire that one would expect from a woman trying to reclaim something she had lost. "Fight for what I love, the way I should have fought before? I thought that I was doing the right thing, letting you go, but... but they've changed you, they've made you nothing more than another automaton, like the old men that you and I used to joke about when we were young." 

"It's not like that! I... I care about you, I loved you then and that was why I had to -" His mouth snapped shut, as he seemed to realize what he said. 

Her reaction was not lost on Baar; she probably remembered every word of what had happened that day, had probably replayed it over and over again. "You said then that it wasn't your choice, Nomar. That the Jedi made you leave."

He shut his eyes, his shoulders slumping, defeated. "They said... I had to choose," he said. "I loved you, Rehanna, but they said that... I had to leave if I wanted to be a Jedi. And my family said that we needed the Republic, so that there could be peace on Alderaan, so that... so that people like us wouldn't have to love and lose each other, in the shadow of a war. So I had to be Jedi. Even if it meant..."

"...breaking my heart," she finished for him when he did not. She stepped closer to him, her vibrosword still holstered, her gaze softening. "So you hid behind the Jedi, as you hide behind their words now. Aren't you tired of hiding? Are we truly any closer to peace because of these lies, Nomar? Can't we... can't we be honest with each other again, like we were before?"

"Rehanna," he said again, and there was something else in his voice. Baar had been right; he did still feel something, even if he had forced it down. And under the circumstances, when he was bound and at bay... he had no choice but to be honest about it. 

She pushed herself up on her tiptoes to kiss her old flame on the lips. There was enough room, he could have tried to pull away... but that time, he didn't. His body was trembling as he started to kiss her back, a moment of long-suppressed hunger...

Baar smiled behind his mask. He tapped Andronikos on the shoulder, who had been standing bemused the whole time, and gestured for him to follow. The two walked away, unmolested by Rehanna - or by the other forces she had brought with her, if she had followed Baar's advice. But he would know that before much longer.

They had walked several meters away when the pirate finally spoke. "Um. So... I take it she knows what to do from here?" 

"I gave her a code. She'll decide if or when to use it." 

"Hm. Dangerous, leaving them alone. He might still try to talk his way out of this." 

Baar nodded. "Perhaps he will," he admitted. "But this will keep them busy, if nothing else. And Lady Rist is a very intelligent woman; I do not doubt she would take precautions -" 

The holocomm beeped. "Heh. Guess we'll find out," Andronikos said. 

"Indeed." Baar answered the call, wondering which of the two were going to be on the other end. If it was Nomar - which would've meant he was free and had killed or subdued the others around him - he would have to handle him in a more permanent way, after all. 

Fortunately it was Rehanna who answered. "Nomar is being transported to one of our secluded estates," she said without preamble. "My men and I have to get him there before anyone else realizes what happened." 

Baar nodded. "So you did take my advice." 

"Of course. Even if you had told me to come alone, I would've brought others. And I know what Jedi are capable of. I'll be careful." She paused, closing her eyes. Were those tears at their corners, partially hidden by the paint she wore? " But there's hope now... hope that we can get something back of the man he used to be. I didn't think I would ever say this to you, after our earlier conversations, but... thank you."

"Do not thank me, Lady Rehanna. Remember that what I have given you is a very dangerous gift. You must be cautious."

"I am of House Rist, Sith. I am not afraid." She looks back, presumably at her men carrying the Jedi. Was he unconscious or still bound? She knew what she was doing, but he still had to wonder at the methods. "I hope... someday he will appreciate your aid as much as I do. Not many receive a second chance at love." 

"True enough. Take care, Lady Rehanna." 

Andronikos shook his head as the comm clicked off. "Huh. Killing him would've been a lot less trouble. Why the show?" 

"I consider it an investment," Baar answered, looking over at the bemused pirate. "At worst, this will keep the two of them out of my way until we can finish our work here and leave this planet with the artifact. At best, the Jedi will lose one of its Knights, and House Rist will owe us a favor. Or, if he proves to be too difficult to turn away from his doctrine, this will spark conflict between Organa and Rist that will weaken them and their allies. Either way, the Empire gains an advantage." 

"And here I thought you were a softie and just wanted to get those two together again, Sith." Andronikos was smirking at him. 

"I see no reason why both cannot be true." Baar had to smirk at that, even under the mask.

Andronikos chuckled at that, and let the matter drop. "We're nearly done here now, right? Alderaan's got pretty scenery and all, but it'd be nice to be back somewhere a little more modern." 

"We'll be back in Thul's lands soon. We will finish our task here as soon as we can reach our contact." 

"Sounds good." 

Baar nodded in agreement. He had not done a good thing there, no matter how it might end. At best, he'd captured an enemy and put him in the hands of another jailer, no matter how good her intentions might be. Maybe Andronikos was right, and he was being a sentimental fool, but he couldn't deny that the look on Rehanna's face when she had thanked him had made him smile, for once. If he had to do it over again he would probably do the same.

The two of them kept walking along the roads, back to the outpost. They would be in commlink range of the Thul leaders soon. Then they would have more work to do, no doubt.

**Author's Note:**

> So I found out shortly after starting this that you can try to reunite these two in-game - I'd played LS Inquisitor a number of times and never saw the opportunity arise, but I found a video of it. (It does not end well for anyone, save perhaps the Inquisitor and Andronikos.) My idea was different enough from that one that I decided to go ahead and write it out.


End file.
